Cluster ranking
The GII reveals the world’s
top 100 science andtechnology (S&T) clusters
and identifies the most S&Tintensive top global clusters.

68

The GII 2023 top 100 science and technology clusters
Recognizing that innovation output at the local level is equally as important as output at thenational level, the Global Innovation Index (GII) continues to chart the world’s largest top 100
science and technology (S&T) clusters (see Map 1). These are the geographical areas around theworld where the highest density of inventors and scientific authors are located (see Appendix IVfor details on the methodological adjustment employed).
For a second time, the GII 2023 also presents S&T clusters beyond the top 100, shedding light onclusters not normally highlighted within this section.
Tokyo–Yokohama and four other Asian clusters lead the top 100 S&T clusters
Among the top 100, Tokyo–Yokohama (Japan) is the top performing cluster, followed by
Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou (China and Hong Kong, China), Seoul (Republic of Korea),
Beijing (China) and Shanghai–Suzhou (China).
Seoul (Republic of Korea) climbs one place to third in the rankings overtaking Beijing (China) infourth, in 2023.1
Shanghai–Suzhou (China) rises one place to enter the top 5, primarily owing to a strong growthin PCT filings. San Jose–San Francisco, CA (United States) follows in sixth position.2
The four remaining top 10 clusters are unchanged on the previous year, with the exception ofSan Diego, CA, which climbs two places from 11th to 9th with New York City, NY dropping a place
to 10th and Paris two places to 12th.
Map 1 Top 100 clusters worldwide, 2023

S&T clusters: Top 100

Noise non–cluster points

Source: WIPO Statistics Database, May 2023.
Note: Noise refers to all inventor/author locations not classified in a cluster.

Global Innovation Index 2023

The highest climbers in the ranking are three clusters in China, namely, Zhenjiang(+15 positions), Hefei (+13) and Wuxi (+13). Following significant growth, Wuxi and Zhenjiang,
together with another Chinese cluster, Fuzhou (+8 positions) enter the top 100 for the first time.
It is clusters in China that have recorded the largest increases in S&T output in 2023, the medianincrease equating to +12.1 percent, with that economy hosting the two fastest growing clusters
globally – Hefei (+21.6 percent) and Qingdao (+19.4 percent). 3Clusters located in other middle-income economies besides China also experienced strong S&T
output growth, four of which were in India, namely, Chennai (+10.3), Bengaluru (+7.9 percent),
Mumbai (+7.1 percent) and Delhi (+5.4 percent).
High-income economy clusters generally grew at a slower pace than clusters in middle-income
economies, with 26 out of the 67 high-income clusters actually experiencing negative net S&T

output for the period. That said, there are some notable exceptions to this trend among highincome economy clusters. In addition to San Diego, CA (+7.5 percent) and Seoul (+6.4 percent)already highlighted, Daejeon (Republic of Korea, +7.8 percent), Denver, CO (United States, +4.4percent), Rome (Italy, +4.0 percent) and Milan (Italy, +3.7 percent) all experienced strong S&T
output in comparison to other high-income clusters.

69

The top S&T clusters for each economy or cross-border region are shown in Table 6. The leadingclusters per country remain unchanged from last year, except for Munich overtaking Cologne tobecome the leading German S&T cluster.
The cluster around Singapore now encapsulates Johor Bahru, Malaysia, which lies to the north ofSingapore, with a significant amount of daily commuting occurring from Malaysia to Singapore.
Table 6 Top S&T cluster by economy or cross-border region ranked among the top 100, 2023
Rank

Cluster name

EconomyTop applicant

1

Tokyo–Yokohama

JP

Mitsubishi Electric

Top organization
University of Tokyo2

Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou

CN/HKHuawei

Sun Yat Sen University3SeoulKR

Samsung Electronics

Seoul National University

4Beijing

CN

BOE Technology

Tsinghua University

6

San Jose–San Francisco, CAUSGoogle

Stanford University

12ParisFR

PSA Automobiles

Sorbonne Universite

20London

GBNicoventures Trading

University College London

22Munich

DEBMW

Technical University of Munich

26

Amsterdam–Rotterdam

NL

TNO

Utrecht University

27

Taipei–Hsinchu

TW*

Hewlett-Packard

National Taiwan University

30

Tel Aviv–Jerusalem

IL

Yeda Research and Development

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

31

Moscow

RU

Samsung Electronics

Lomonosov Moscow State University

33

Singapore

SG/MY

A*StarNational University of Singapore

34

TehranIR

Ghanbari, Ahmad

University of Tehran

38

Stockholm

SE

LM Ericsson

Karolinska Institutet

42

Melbourne

AUMonash University

University of Melbourne

48

MadridESLM Ericsson

Complutense University of Madrid
ETH Zürich

49

Zürich

CHETH Zurich

50

MilanIT

Pirelli Tyre

University of Milan

51

Brussels–Antwerp

BEAgfaKU Leuven

52

Toronto, ONCA

DH Technologies Development

University of Toronto

56

Bengaluru

IN

Samsung Electronics

IISC – Bangalore

59

Istanbul

TR

Sanovel Ilac Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S.

Istanbul University

61

Copenhagen

DK

Novo Nordisk

University of Copenhagen
Universidade de São Paulo72

São PauloBRBraskem

73

HelsinkiFINokia

University of Helsinki

76

ViennaAT

Technische Universitat Wien

Medical University of Vienna

90

Warsaw

PLSamsung Electronics

University of Warsaw

97

Basel

CH/DE/FRDSM IP Assets

University of Basel

Source: WIPO Statistics Database, May 2023.
Notes: Tables in this section use ISO alpha-2 country codes, with the following additions: TW* = Taiwan, Province ofChina; IISC – Bangalore = Indian Institute of Science – Bangalore; TNO = Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast
Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek. Economy labels were assigned to a cluster, when at least 1 percent of a cluster’s
output occurred in a given economy.

China overtook the United States in number of top 100 S&T clusters

For the first time, in 2023, China is the economy that has the most clusters (24) ranked among
the top 100, overtaking the United States with 21 clusters unchanged on the year (see Table 7).
Germany follows, with nine clusters in the top 100, with Munich now that economy’s number
one cluster followed by Cologne and Stuttgart. Japan has four clusters in the top 100, with
Tokyo–Yokohama (1st) and Osaka–Kobe–Kyoto (7th) ranking among the top 10 clusters. Francehas three clusters in the top 100.

Global Innovation Index 2023

In 2023, as in previous years, the top 100 S&T clusters are concentrated in three regions, namely,Northern America, Europe and Asia, and more specifically in two countries: China and theUnited States (see Map 1).

70

Map 2 Top S&T clusters, East Asia, India, Türkiye and Israel, 2023
(a) East Asia

Beijing
Seoul
Qingdao
Daejeon

Xi’an

Wuhan
HangzhouShanghai–Suzhou

Shenzhen–Hong Kong–
Guangzhou

Cluster Rank: Top 100
1–25
26–50
51–75
76–100(b) India

DelhiMumbaiBengaluru

Global Innovation Index 2023

Cluster Rank: Top 100
1–25
26–50
51–75
76–100Tokyo–Yokohama
NagoyaNanjingChengduOsaka–Kobe–Kyoto

Chennai

Map 2 Continued

71(c) Türkiye and Israel

Istanbul

AnkaraTel Aviv–
Jerusalem

Cluster Rank: Top 100
1–25
26–50
51–75
76–100Source: WIPO Statistics Database, May 2023.

With the exception of China, only five middle-income economies have clusters among the top 100:–––––Brazil (1 cluster), with São Paulo, is the sole top 100 S&T cluster in Latin America;
India (4), with Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai;
Islamic Republic of Iran (1), with Tehran;Russian Federation (1), with Moscow; andTürkiye (2), with Istanbul and Ankara.4

The two Indian clusters Chennai and Bengaluru experienced the biggest increases in density ofinventors and scientific authors.
Table 7 Economies with three or more top 100 S&T clusters, 2023
Economy nameCN

China

24

US

United States

21DE

Germany

9JPJapan

4CA

Canada

4

IN

India

4

KR

Republic of Korea

4FRFrance

3

GBUnited Kingdom

3AUAustralia

3

Source: WIPO Statistics Database, May 2023.

Beyond the top 100, Bangkok, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Kuala Lumpur and Mexico City are top
middle-income economy S&T clusters
Based on the same parameters applied to produce the top 100 ranking S&T clusters globally,the GII 2023 has been able to identify clusters beyond the top 100. In all, 137 additional clusters
were identified beyond the top 100, including 24 clusters based in the United States, 16 in China
and 11 in each of France and the United Kingdom.

Global Innovation Index 2023

Top 100clusters

Economy72

Table 8 identifies top S&T clusters in economies not covered previously in the top 100, including
Portugal and Saudi Arabia, which each had two clusters. Two economies not previously
identified as having an S&T cluster are Pakistan at Islamabad, mainly driven by academic
publications by Quaid-i-Azam University, and Slovenia at Ljubljana, mainly driven by publications
by the University of Ljubljana.
Table 8 Top S&T clusters in extended ranking, economies not covered by the top 100 S&T
clusters, 2023
Clusters beyond
top 100Cluster name(s)Portugal2

Lisbon and PortoSASaudi Arabia

2Dammam and Riyadh

ARArgentina

1

Buenos Aires

CLChile1

Santiago

CZ

Czech Republic

1PragueEG

Egypt

1

Cairo

GR

Greece1Athens

HU

Hungary1

Budapest

IE

Ireland1

DublinMO

Macao, China

1

MacauMX

Mexico1

Mexico CityNZ

New Zealand

1

AucklandNO

Norway1

OsloPK

Pakistan

1

IslamabadRO

Romania1

Bucharest

EconomyEconomy namePT

RS

Serbia1

BelgradeSI

Slovenia

1

Ljubljana

THThailand

1

Bangkok

Source: WIPO Statistics Database, May 2023.

Middle-income economies, Argentina, Egypt, Mexico, Pakistan, Serbia and Thailand all host a topS&T cluster in the extended list, namely, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Mexico City, Islamabad, Belgradeand Bangkok, respectively.
S&T intensity of the top 100 clusters: Europe and the United States occupy the top 5 spots, withCambridge (United Kingdom) and San Jose–San Francisco, CA (United States) out in the lead
Since 2020, the GII has also presented the top 100 clusters ranked by S&T intensity, that is, thesum of their patent and scientific publication shares divided by population. This work draws on
geospatial imagery in order to estimate the underlying population level (see Appendix IV).

Global Innovation Index 2023

Cambridge in the United Kingdom and San Jose–San Francisco, CA, in the United States
were found to be the two most S&T-intensive clusters, followed by Oxford (United Kingdom),
Eindhoven (Kingdom of the Netherlands) and Boston–Cambridge, MA (United States) (see Table9). The most intensive S&T clusters are primarily located in Europe and the United States (seeMap 3).

Map 3 European and North American S&T clusters by intensity, 2023

73(a) Europe

Göteborg

Helsinki

Stockholm

Copenhagen
OxfordCambridge

BerlinEindhovenFrankfurt am Main

Paris

Nuremberg–
Erlangen
MunichStuttgart
Basel Zürich

Heidelberg–
Mannheim

ViennaLyon

Cluster Intensity Rank
1–25
26–50
51–75
76–100(b) North America

Vancouver, BC
Seattle, WA
Portland, OR

Ottawa, ON

Minneapolis, MN

Ann Arbor, MIDenver, CO
San Jose–San Francisco, CA

Boston–Cambridge, MA

Pittsburgh, PA
Cincinnati, OH
Washington, DC– Philadelphia,Baltimore, MD PA
Raleigh, NC

San Diego, CA

Atlanta, GA
Houston, TX

Source: WIPO Statistics Database, May 2023.

Global Innovation Index 2023

Cluster Intensity Rank
1–25
26–50
51–75
76–10074

Daejeon (Republic of Korea) is the highest-ranking Asian S&T cluster by intensity.
Only three clusters were in the global top 10 and simultaneously in the top 10 for intensity,
all in the United States, namely, San Jose–San Francisco, CA, Boston–Cambridge, MA and San
Diego, CA.
Cambridge produced the most SCIE articles per capita, at just over 37,000 per one million people(see Appendix Table 4). It was closely followed by Oxford and Ann Arbor, MI (United States).
Eindhoven leads on PCT filings per inhabitant, producing roughly 7,700 per one million people,
followed by San Jose–San Francisco, CA.
Table 9 Top 25 S&T clusters by S&T intensity, 2023
Rank percapitaa

Cluster name

EconomyTop Applicant

1Cambridge

GBARM

Top scientific organization
Cambridge University

2San Jose–San Francisco, CAUSGoogle

Stanford University

3

OxfordGBOxford University

Oxford University

4Eindhoven

NL

Philips Electronics

Eindhoven University of Tech.

5

Boston–Cambridge, MAUSMITMIT

6Daejeon

KRLG Chem

KAIST

7Ann Arbor, MIUS

University of Michigan

University of Michigan

8San Diego, CAUSQualcomm

University of California San Diego

9Seattle, WAUSMicrosoftUniversity of Washington Seattle

10Munich

DEBMW

Technical University of Munich

11

Kanazawa

JPFujitsu

Kanazawa University

12

Raleigh, NC

USDuke UniversityDuke University

13

GöteborgSE

LM Ericsson

University of Gothenburg

14

Beijing

CN

BOE Technology

Tsinghua University
Karolinska Institutet

15

Stockholm

SE

LM Ericsson

16

Helsinki

FI

Nokia

University of Helsinki

17

ZürichCH

ETH Zürich

ETH Zürich

18

Tokyo–Yokohama

JP

Mitsubishi Electric

University of Tokyo

19

Basel

CH/DE/FRDSM IP Assets

University of Basel20

Copenhagen

DK

Novo Nordisk

University of Copenhagen

21

Nuremberg–Erlangen

DESiemens

University of Erlangen Nuremberg

22

Stuttgart

DERobert BoschEberhard Karls University of Tubingen

23

Minneapolis, MN

US

3M Innovative Properties

University of Minnesota Twin Cities

24Pittsburgh, PAUS

University of Pittsburgh

University of Pittsburgh

25

Seoul

KR

Samsung Electronics

Seoul National University

Source: WIPO Statistics Database, May 2023.
Notes: a Per capita figures refer to 1,000,000 of population. KAIST = Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology;
MIT = Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Global Innovation Index 2023

Seen through a lens focused on intensity, many clusters in Europe and the United States areseen to exhibit S&T activity that is more intensive than their Asian counterparts (see Map 3 andTable 9). The United States has eight clusters in the top 25 measured by S&T intensity. Following
behind the United States is Germany, with three clusters in the top 25 (with Munich moving
up rapidly to 10th spot), while the following four countries each have two clusters: the UnitedKingdom (with Cambridge and Oxford holding two of the top 3 rankings by intensity), Japan(with Kanazawa and Tokyo–Yokohama both improving their ranking), the Republic of Korea (withSeoul entering into the top 25) and Sweden (with Lund–Malmö dropping out of the top 25).
Clusters located in China show a relatively weaker performance, with regards to S&T intensity.
However, there is one exception: Beijing. With a population estimated at almost 20 million,
Beijing ranks 14th by intensity, mid-way between the smaller metropolises of Göteborg (13th)and Stockholm (15th) located in Sweden. Apart from Beijing, there is no other S&T cluster locatedin China or any other middle-income economy that ranks among the top 25 most intensive
clusters globally.
India, however, does make it into the top 100 by S&T intensity for four clusters: Bengaluru,Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai.

Endnotes
1

Seoul’s improvement in ranking was primarily due to its merging with Cheonan-si, a city just to the south of Seoul
whose patent and scientific publication density reached the clustering threshold for the first time this year.

2See Appendix Table 3, noting that, relative to population, US cluster San Jose–San Francisco, CA, ranks second in theworld, see section S&T intensity of the top 100 clusters

3Net S&T output refers to a change in combined output of both components (PCT filings and SCIE articles) over time.

4Istanbul deserves a closer look, as it underwent a steep decline in ranking. This decline was primarily driven bya large area to its southeast failing to meet density criteria and therefore no longer within the cluster boundaryof Istanbul. When controlling for the cluster’s boundaries, Istanbul had positive growth in both PCT filings andSCIE articles.

75

Reference

Global Innovation Index 2023

Bergquist, K. and C. Fink (2020). The top 100 science and technology clusters. In Dutta, S., B. Lanvin and S. Wunsch-Vincent(eds), The Global Innovation Index 2020: Who Will Finance Innovation? Ithaca, NY, Fontainebleau and Geneva: Cornell
University, INSEAD and WIPO.